Guitar Chord SoundsPage 134

Pitch Pipe

As you build up your own repertoire of songs and the various tunes that you can play, try to familiarize yourself with the guitar chord sounds and especially listen for the changes between one and another. Soon the ability to anticipate and hit the new guitar chord by pressing down on the strings with the fingers without hardly thinking will be yours! This is another big advantage of only using three chords, you quickly learn to play "by ear." By slightly raising your chord fingers you will also be able to either sharpen or muffle the guitar chords and create a pleasant rhythmic beat to the music. Try very slow and very quick rhythms. Experiment with tango, quickstep, rock, slow foxtrot, or waltz tempos until you master them. This is how the great blues guitarists got started.✞

Tone Deaf

If you happen to be tone deaf and cannot tell the difference between the sound of the notes, I would encourage you to persevere. Blow the pitch pipe, hum the note to match it and tune the strings until you recognize the difference between the various string sounds. A friend of mine who sang terribly flat, learned like this and suddenly found he could also sing, but with a very unusual and interesting quality to his voice. He went on to become quite a popular folk singer. You may have hidden talent too. The last word is to persevere and as they say "all power to your elbow!"✞